Chapter Twelve: Young People Should Get More Sleep

It is difficult to describe the scent of this precious material. It is neither strong nor faint; not exactly pleasant, yet not unpleasant either. Ultimately, it is hard to find any other fragrance in the world to compare it with.

All under heaven know beauty as beauty, thus ugliness exists; all know good as good, thus evil exists.

There is no opposing scent to contrast it, nor any that closely resembles it, so no words can truly capture its essence.

The proper evaluation of it must be “indescribable.”

Within a brief moment, Zhao Menghua’s skin, muscles, bones, and internal organs began to secrete a pale blue powder.

Depending on the body part, the pale blue powder varied slightly. Lu Mingfei, being an expert in this field, naturally did not clumsily collect all the powders into a single vessel.

He took out three different clay jars and, using a small brush and shovel he had purchased, skillfully separated and placed the powders into the jars. At the same time, he retrieved the talisman he had just thrown aside.

That talisman contained a rudimentary version of the Blade Blessing technique, which only enhanced the talisman’s sharpness and hardness, without significantly increasing its lethality against mythical creatures.

But it was easy to conceal and manipulate; paired with basic telekinesis, it was effectively a small flying sword.

Zhao Menghua’s clothes had already been corroded by the celestial sand, leaving behind barely visible remnants scattered on the ground. Lu Mingfei, wishing to conserve his sanity and magical energy, did not clear these further.

The Celestial Sand Soul-Returning Talisman was not a quick-cast spell like the true glance summoning technique; it required multiple people to share the mental and magical burden. Lu Mingfei’s courage and skill alone were what allowed him to attempt such a ritual solo.

The cost of his bravado was a significant drop in sanity. His frail body’s willpower was insufficient—unexpectedly weak.

Before acting, Lu Mingfei had calculated the ritual’s cost to his sanity, but clearly, his estimate was off. This was, after all, his own body, yet something had gone wrong.

If he had previously thought his untrained will was like a sheet of foam plastic, now he realized it was more like a thin piece of paper soaked in water.

Yet Lu Mingfei no longer cared about this anomaly in his will.

His vision began to distort further. The vast magical residue left in the bathroom twisted into filthy, writhing black tentacles, hidden within the smoke that accumulated from the burning incense.

Their shadows writhed within the thin smoke, occasionally revealing their filthy forms, as if eager to drag Lu Mingfei into their world.

He opened the bathroom door and quietly ascended the stairs. The movie had not yet begun, and he had not attracted anyone’s attention. Stumbling slightly, he returned to his seat.

He could ignore the lurking shadows in the corners, the distorted and twisted faces and limbs of his high school classmates, and the enormous tentacles protruding from the movie screen, yet he could not control the imbalance and dizziness within his mind.

To avoid drawing attention, Lu Mingfei had to continue expending his sanity, casting another spell—Mundaneness Charm—to lower his presence and mask his abnormalities.

One misstep led to another, and the situation worsened.

He unlocked his N96 phone, unable to discern the letters on its keypad, and by muscle memory sent a message to Nono consisting of four characters:

“Come pick me up quickly.”

He wasn’t sure if Nono was reliable—they had only just met and were hardly friends—but she was the only person related to the supernatural he could contact.

Too many things in his mind were beyond recollection. If he lost control completely now, who knew what would happen?

Though he dreamed of summoning an otherworldly deity to Earth for a grand feast, he was not reckless enough to wager his life on it. If luck ran out and an unwanted entity appeared, survival would be impossible.

His thoughts began to spiral further out of control. Forbidden knowledge, long sealed away, flickered within his weakening control.

Without hesitation, Lu Mingfei pressed his forehead, severed his consciousness, and plunged into utter tranquil darkness.

...

Not long after, Lu Mingfei awoke.

Or perhaps much time had passed—those in deep sleep lose all sense of time, after all.

He did not know how long he had slept, but his splitting headache told him rest had been insufficient.

He found himself seated in the leather chair of a high-end red sports car, the seatbelt firmly fastened around him.

What a torment.

It wasn’t that the sports car’s seat was uncomfortable—it was the weather.

Rain. Above and below, rain. Transparent curtains of water all around, as if every drop of rain in the world had gathered into this space. Streams of rain flowed side by side without pause.

Beyond the rain was endless darkness; beneath his feet lay a broad elevated highway. The relentless downpour hit him so hard it was hard to breathe. He tried to speak, but his words were drowned out by the roaring wind and rain as the car sped along.

Frustrated, he wiped his face and shouted louder:

“Nono!! Don’t drive a convertible in the rain!! Put the roof up!!!”

Though driving a convertible in a storm was foolish, Lu Mingfei’s fondness for Nono grew immensely. If conditions allowed, he wouldn’t mind holding her close and kissing her.

She had truly come through. Her inspiration was terrifyingly sharp; she had managed to bring him out despite the lingering magic of the Celestial Sand Soul-Returning Talisman and his use of the Mundaneness Charm.

The next moment, Lu Mingfei was stunned.

The driver’s seat was not occupied by the flamboyant red-haired beauty, but by a refined, handsome child.

The child wore a black suit with a white silk scarf, sitting upright behind the wheel with hands off it, letting the car speed along the elevated highway.

Lu Mingfei did not recognize the child but felt he had not lived long enough, and thus made a constructive suggestion:

“Why don’t you try putting your hands on the steering wheel and driving?”

The child’s eyes glowed faintly gold, like lanterns. Even in the dark rainy night, Lu Mingfei could see them clearly.

The child sighed softly and said in a low voice:

“Lu Mingfei, you and that woman should never have appeared here.”

Lu Mingfei scratched his head.

“Where is this?”

“Not something I can tell you now, but if you don’t figure some things out soon, you’ll die here.”

Only then did Lu Mingfei notice the horde of twisted humanoid creatures trailing behind the speeding car.

Tattered black cloaks, pale numb features, and dazzling golden eyes.

Ha! Looks like his sanity hasn’t recovered enough. Better sleep a little longer.